Maki trusted my words, veering immediately in the direction of the flame. It seemed she'd been losing sight of the path as well.

By now the blizzard had fully set in. I was finding it hard to clearly see Maki even though she was only a few feet ahead of me.

If the wind had been bad before, it was absolutely atrocious now. I had to keep my eyes half-lidded to shield them from its stinging force. It wasn't doing my vision any favors either.

Worse still, at some point my scarf flew out of my hand, leaving my face completely exposed to the blizzard. Needless to say, it felt pretty numb now.

Still, I kept my eyes focused on Lily and Maki. Regardless of how many times I stumbled, of how numb my face and fingers got, I forced myself to keep up.

Collapsing here would be equivalent to suicide.

Soon enough, something popped up in my half- lidded gaze.

A message from Song.

[Follow my voice and that witch's signal.]

"O…re"

Then I heard a voice over the roar of the blizzard. I couldn't tell what it was saying, but it sounded human.

I sent Maki a message.

[The voice! Follow the voice!]

Regardless of whatever doubts she likely had, the girl trusted my words once again, adjusting her path.

Gradually, the voice slowly became clearer.

"Ove… ere!"

"Over here!"

As we drew nearer, the figure it belonged to became much clearer as well, a cloaked person standing under the towering silhouette of a half-collapsed skyscraper.

Our destination.

The red hair on the figure was enough to inform me about her identity.

Maki and Lily picked up speed at the sight, while I trailed behind as best I could.

None of us wasted any time stopping as we passed the figure, before diving straight into the building. The door slammed heavily behind us.

I let myself collapse on the floor, taking deep breaths to control my roaring head and stomach.

'Urgh…'

After barely managing to get both under a reasonable amount of control, I shakily pulled off the stiff gloves from my hands.

In the little light of the room, I could just barely see the slightly bluish tone they had taken on. I gently blew warm air on them before carefully moving them to my face.

Carefully, I brushed snow off my face while testing how responsive it was. Luckily, there was still some feeling in most of it except for the tip of my nose—it remained painfully numb.

'I hope it isn't too bad.'

At that moment, a flashlight suddenly illuminated the space, showing it to be an underground parking lot. A voice soon followed.

"You sure took your sweet time getting here."

I didn't even have to turn to know who it was. I replied through chattering teeth,

"M-might have something to do w-with not having an overpowered heat source carry us through the entirety of the trial."

Song just let out a light chuckle.

"I don't know, that sounds like what a sore loser would say."

I rolled my eyes mentally.

'Is she doing this here?'

"Riiight. D-do you have a fire or not?"

The girl let out a disappointed sigh before walking off.

"Follow me."

The flashlight left us and moved towards the stairs. Even through the darkness, I could feel Maki's gaze boring holes through me.

Regardless of how naïve Lily typically was, even she would have noticed something was off by now. I ignored them both.

Carefully pushing myself off the ground, I flicked on my flashlight before following Song. From the steps trailing behind us, Maki and Lily had likely done the same as well.

I sent Song a message.

[Have you told Racheal anything about your powers yet?]

The reply was almost immediate.

[Why would I give that witch anything?]

As expected, they hadn't exactly gotten along. Even through my possible frostbite, I only barely stopped a smug grin from forming on my face.

[Good.]

Her reply was a bit delayed this time.

[What do you mean good? Do you hate her as well?]

[Don't worry about it.]

[What i—]

I shut down the interface before I could read the entirety of the message. Song paused, turning to glare at me before reluctantly continuing on the path.

I could only shrug and follow her in response. She would find out very soon, besides, it wasn't like I was planning on doing anything particularly bad to her.

The stairwell had certainly seen better days. The concrete was cracked and broken in multiple places, with rusted metal rods poking out at different angles. Given the darkness, we had to be extra careful not to accidentally impale ourselves on them.

Luckily, the stairs had been made with very solid materials—the fact that they still stood said enough. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said about the windows. We were forced to rush anytime we came across one to escape the cold blowing in.

Song wordlessly took us past multiple floors until we reached what I approximated to be the highest floor in the building. Well, as high as you could get in a building like this.

I'd counted twenty-one floors at that point.

There, she headed inward, into what I could only guess had once been an executive lounge. At least from the carpet and sofa remains strewn around.

She walked past all that, moving deeper into the floor. To the side, there was a large door leading to what I could only presume had been a large office.

But more importantly, there was light coming from the room.

Song headed straight for it. We quietly followed.

As I expected, the room was a large office. Or rather, had been one. All the things that might have once made it such lay strewn on the ground. It was just a large room now.

Unlike the stairwell, the window in this room was placed rather high up and seemed to have been made with much better materials too. Although it was cracked, the glass still stood.

And from on high, the dim light of the outside world fell on a pale-haired girl sitting near a pile of burning furniture.

'Racheal.'

***

Racheal's brow arched in confusion the moment she saw us step in, her gloved hands already reaching for her sword. Song quickly raised her arms, stopping her.

"Drop the sword, they are the ones I asked you to make that signal for."

The pale-haired girl still looked puzzled, but she obliged, dropping her sword. Still, she asked.

"Why are you saving our competitors? Don't tell me you suddenly grew a heart."

Song just rubbed her forehead in frustration.

"Just let them rest a bit, ok? That shortie will explain it all soon."

The girl just pointed in my direction, before sitting near the flame.

'First of all, I am not short… also she's pinning this all on me?'

Still, I had more important things to do than argue. I sat next to the flame as well, letting my battered fingers enjoy its toasty goodness.

Maki and Lily soon followed suit.

Ironically, with the Predator roaming about, blizzards were the only time we could safely light fires.

Gradually, the warmth of the flame returned feeling to my fingers and face.

Unfortunately, the signs of frostbite became rather evident as well. Most especially at the tip of my nose. I felt a strange mix of stinging pain and numbness there.

Cautiously touching that area only made the pain spike.

"Ow."

'Definitely frostbite… fuck.'

Worse still, I'd lost my scarf in the storm. The cloth was as good as gone now.

'Just great.'

I let out a weary sigh, trying to look on the bright side.

'At least we made it here in one piece. Song and Racheal look fine as well, so there should be no problems moving to the next step of the plan.'

It was only when I raised my head that I realized everyone was looking at me suspiciously, everyone except Song, of course. The girl just looked on with a self-satisfied smile.

'Right, I have to deal with this too.'

I let out a light cough, pretending to clear my throat.

"We have yet to introduce ourselves properly to Lady Racheal."

Maki's eyes only narrowed further as she mumbled under her breath.

"How come I didn't get that sort of treatment?"

I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.

Song whispered beside her, just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"It's because he's a coward."

I pretended not to hear that too. Instead, I did what any reasonable human being would do and pushed on.

"I am Victor, no surname." I then gestured to Maki. "She is Maki, daughter of the Sato clan."

I finally pointed at Lily, who nodded earnestly.

"And that is Lily, also no surname."

Racheal merely gave an acknowledging nod to the introduction before replying.

"You are well aware of who I am. You also seem rather familiar with Cadet Song, so I won't bother with introductions. Why are you here?"

It was also then Maki finally decided to properly voice her suspicions too.

"I would also like to know that. Why are we here? From the start, you've seemed to know your way around this place, the blizzards, the monsters… all of it. You're hiding, aren't you?"

She paused, before adding.

"And so help me, if you say 'research' one more time, I will f—"

"Easy, easy. I'll explain myself."

I stopped prodding around my face for frostbite. Luckily, the damage had been localized around the tip of my nose. It didn't hurt as much when it wasn't touched, so I'd just leave it be for now.

I let out a practiced sigh,

"Maki, Lily, I am sorry. I haven't been entirely honest with you throughout this trial."

Maki just rolled her eyes, while Lily looked on, puzzled. Racheal watched the situation with growing interest.

Song, on the other hand, had that smug look of hers crack.

'Just you wait.'

I continued.

"You see, the truth is, Song is a seer."

Looks of surprise popped up on everyone's face, except Racheal, who just nodded like she'd finally confirmed a suspicion of hers.

Song muttered, incredulous.

"I am?"

"Of course you are."

I laughed while sending her a message.

[I'm getting us out of this mess. Just go with it.]

[What do—]

I shut down the interface before I could read her full message.

The girl froze a bit, shooting me a glare, before giving the others a strained smile while nodding.

"Yes, I am. Song the seer. That's me."

'Was she always this bad at acting, or is she just mad?'

Either way, the girls seemed to buy the act, so I pressed on.

"Exactly. Right before the simulation began, Song contacted me, saying she had a vision about the simulation and some events that would happen in it."

Racheal nodded a bit at the explanation, but still cut in.

"Why you? Why didn't she tell someone else?"

I just shrugged.

"That's not a question you should be asking me. We're the only ones to have ever undergone a second awakening. Perhaps she asked because of that, or she just found me a kind, capable, and trustworthy person."

Song coughed a bit too loudly at that. When I raised a brow at her, she just waved me off with that strained smile of hers.

"Must be something in my throat. Carry on."

Meanwhile, a message popped up in my interface.

[Don't go spilling obscene lies.]

I just rolled my eyes before mentally shutting the interface down again. I continued.

"So we both agreed to work together for the trial. Neither of us are exactly the most capable people, but using her knowledge of the future, we found a method that can still allow all of us a place in the top ten."

Maki still had her suspicions.

"Why didn't you tell us any of this earlier?"

"Would you have followed me if I said a cadet from an enemy team claiming to be a prophet was waiting to help us somewhere in the center ring?"

That very quickly shut her up.

"I thought so."

I cleared my throat once again, before gently drumming my fingers on the metal of my crossbow.

"I'm sure you are all very curious as to what we plan on doing, right?"

Then I stopped.

"We will hunt the Predator."

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